Cardiovascular Efficacy and Safety of Bococizumab in High-Risk Patients

In two randomized trials comparing the PCSK9 inhibitor bococizumab with placebo, bococizumab had no benefit with respect to major adverse cardiovascular events in the lower-risk group but did have a significant benefit in the higher-risk group. Monoclonal antibodies that inhibit proprotein convertase subtilisin–kexin type 9 (PCSK9) lower levels of plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and are promising agents for vascular risk reduction. 1 Patients who have received the fully human monoclonal antibodies evolocumab and alirocumab, for example, have had reductions in cardiovascular events in preliminary analyses; these drugs are under evaluation in large-scale trials involving patients with known cardiovascular disease. 2 , 3 Bococizumab is a third inhibitor of PCSK9 that, unlike evolocumab and alirocumab, is a humanized monoclonal antibody in which approximately 3% of the murine sequence remains in the antigen-binding complementarity-determining region. As part of the Studies . . .